THIS REPORT RELATES STIRLING COUNCIL TO ITEM 8 ON THE AGENDA PROVOST'S PANEL CORPORATE OPERATIONS 17 MAY 2016 NOT EXEMPT SMITH ART GALLERY & MUSEUM EXPENDITURE REPORT 1 SUMMARY 1.1 This report invites the Provost’s Panel to note the interim report from the Director of the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum reviewing the Common Good Fund’s contribution to the Smith. 2 RECOMMENDATION(S) The Provost Panel is asked to:- 2.1 note the report from the Director of the Smith Art Gallery and Museum reviewing the Common Good Fund’s contribution to the Smith. 3 CONSIDERATIONS 3.1 The report with details of the additions made to the collection in the financial year 2015/16 is attached at Appendix 1. 4 POLICY/RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS AND CONSULTATIONS Policy Implications Equality Impact Assessment No Strategic Environmental Assessment No Single Outcome Agreement Yes Diversity (age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation) No Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) No Effect on Council’s green house gas emissions No Effect Strategic/Service Plan No Existing Policy or Strategy No Risk No Resource Implications Financial Yes People No Land and Property or IT Systems No Consultations Internal or External Consultations Yes Equality Impact Assessment 4.1 The contents of this report have been considered under the Council’s Equalities Impact Assessment process and were assessed as not relevant for the purposes of Equality Impact Assessment. Strategic Environmental Assessment 4.2 The contents of this report have been considered under the Environment Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and a Strategic Environment Assessment is not required. Single Outcome Agreement 4.3 The contents of this report are not relevant to the Single Outcome Agreement. Other Policy Implications 4.4 None Resource Implications 4.5 The resource implications are as set out in this report Consultations 4.6 The report is based on information provided by Corporate Services. 5 BACKGROUND PAPERS 5.1 None 6 APPENDICES 6.1 Appendix 1 – Report for the Common Good Fund on Stirling Smith Art Gallery 2015/16 purchases Author(s) Name Designation Tel No/Extension David Mackay Accounting Team Leader 01786 233354 [email protected] Approved by Name Designation Signature Gerard O’Sullivan Director of Corporate Operations Date 26 April 2016 Reference APPENDIX 1 Report for Common Good Fund, 25 April 2016 In the year 2015 – 2016, many significant new additions to the Stirling Smith collections were made courtesy of Stirling Common Good Fund. A purchase list, with price and registration numbers is attached. This year, we were fortunate to be able to buy three paintings by Stirling – based artist Macneil Macleay (1806 – 1883). The main work is oil on canvas, “Loch Earn, Perthshire, from the east with the hills of Balwither [sic] in the distance” Height 46cm x width 78.5cm, Frame: Height 67cm x width 97cm Signed bottom right “N.Macleay 1868”. Handwritten title above, on back of the frame. In original frame by J.A. Butti, carver, gilder, picture framer and looking glass manufacturer, 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh (Label on reverse of frame). Artist: Macneil MacLeay (fl.1829–1862) was born in Oban, the son of Kenneth MacLeay of Glasgow and Oban, who was a man of considerable literary note. Macneil Macleay was a prolific painter of landscapes, mostly in oil, and had a love of Highland scenes. His brother Kenneth was a founder member of the RSA in 1820. Macneil Macleay was elected ARSA in 1836 but resigned in 1848. In 1840 he travelled to the Rhine where he made studies of the local landscape. His work is highly detailed and his romanticised views of the Highlands have a gentle charm. In 1848 he moved from Edinburgh to Stirling where he lived in Lower Bridge Street, in the shadow of the castle, until his death. Prior to this the Smith had only two paintings by him: Stirling Castle and Loch Awe. There are five in the collection of Perth Art Gallery, one in Angus Council and one in NTS. In 2006, we attempted to purchase a similar sized view of Stirling by the artist, at Christie’s in London. We went to a hammer price of £13,600, but the painting went to a private collector for twice as much. Securing this work for £1220 was therefore a bargain. Two bodycolour works of Loch Achray and Loch Katrine were purchased in a separate auction for £200. The Old Watercolour Society did not approve of artists using bodycolour, which had none of the translucency of watercolour. From the museum point of view, bodycolour is not subject to light damage in the same way as watercolour is, and does not need special low lighting. 21,276 The purchase of the maquette of ‘The King of Scots in Battle’ after the Great Seal of Robert the Bruce (1326-1329), polyester overlaid with polychrome decoration, the ebonised base with silver plaque inscribed 'The King of Scots in Battle after The Great Seal of Robert the Bruce 1326-29, by C D O Pilkington Jackson ARSA FRBS SC was a major highlight of the year. As there was no advance warning of the sale, and insufficient time to raise the money, the Friends of the Smith supported the entire purchase, having expected to spend much more. Charles d'Orville Pilkington Jackson ARSA, FRBS, FRSA (1887-1973) is best known for his iconic equestrian statue of King Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn, and his significant part in the sculptural decoration of the Scottish National War Memorial. He trained at Edinburgh College of Art 1906-10, then attended the British School in Rome 1910-11. Thereafter he was based in Edinburgh throughout his career as a sculptor. His oeuvre is not confined to military figures, but he had a special interest in the subject, no doubt stemming from his own military experience. This began in 1909 in the Edinburgh University Officers' Training Corps. Subsequently he served with the Royal Field Artillery in Egypt and Palestine 1914-18, and with the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division in Scotland 1939-45. As a result, Pilkington Jackson had a facility for depicting military bearing and was meticulous about historical accuracy in dress and weaponry. This work is of great importance to Stirling, and complements the Smith’s collection on Wallace, Bruce and Bannockburn. There is no comparable collection in any other Scottish museum, and people who are interested in the Wars of Independence know that the Smith is the place to visit. 95cm wide, 43cm deep, 121cm high (37in wide, 16 1/2in deep, 48in high). No 1 of 3 bearing assay marks for Hamilton and Inches, Edinburgh, 1967. 21,288. Two publications, Thorough Draining and Deep Ploughing by James Smith of Deanston, 1844 and Catalogue of W. Drummond & Sons, Seedsmen Stirling and Dublin, 1844. It was James Smith of Deanston who made the Carse of Stirling what it is today, turning it from a marshy wasteland into the bread basket of Scotland, thanks to his agricultural innovations. The Drummonds commissioned a massive portrait of him, which is now on permanent display in the Smith, in thanks for his inventions. These works complement the agricultural collection in the Stirling Smith. 21,299 Stirling Harbour in the Snow by Henry Morley (1868 – 1937) Henry Morley was born in Nottingham, the younger son of a wealthy family involved in the lace industry. He studied art in Paris at the Academie Julian where he met Isobel Hutchison, daughter of the Headmaster of the High School of Stirling. He then came to Stirling in c1894 to join Isobel at the Craigmill Country Atelier where they studied under Joseph Denovan Adam. They married in 1901 and settled in Stirling. In 1910 they moved into The Gables, an Arts & Crafts house and studio near the Borestone, designed & built for them. They became prominent figures in the local arts scene and were very well known Scottish artists. Morley died at The Gables in 1937. Isobel died in Dunblane in 1946. This is a small work by Morley, the 19th in the Smith collections. It was wrongly catalogued as “Edinburgh” in the auction sale and obtained at a very reasonable price. 21,305 Drymen Communion Silver A pair of plain silver Communion cups, each on a spreading circular foot with flattened rim, moulded knop to the lower and upper inverted baluster shaped stem, the bucket shaped bowl inscribed, ‘The Communion Cups of the Kirk of Drymen, 1732’ and with slightly everted rim, by Johan Gotleiff Bilsinds, Glasgow circa 1732 Height – 21cms Height of bowl – 9.5cms Diameter of base – 11cms Diameter of bowl – 12cms Weight -509gms and 499gms respectively, or c16 troy ounces A Britannia metal Communion flagon of plain tapering cylindrical form on moulded base, the body with applied reeded girdle and inscribed ‘Kirk of Drymen, 1852’, short spout and corkscrew thumb piece to the domed cover, the scroll handle with heart shaped termination, unmarked, mid-19th century, 31cms high. A Britannia metal Communion plate inscribed ‘Kirk of Drymen, 1852’. 41cm in diameter. From Strathendrick, and its inhabitants from early times. An account of the parishes of Fintry, Balfron, Killearn, Drymen, Buchanan, and Kilmarnock by John Guthrie Smith (1896): In 1688 the Presbytery of Dumbarton was engaged in investigating the equipment of the different churches within its bounds and the efficiency of the schools. On the 9th November 1668 the Minutes of the Presbytery bear: Drymen, “Anent the public guids” it was found that the Session possessed “a bazon for baptism and box for the poor’s money with two keyes in the custodie of two elders and ane black mortcloath dedicate at first by umq Ion Drummond at the milne of Drummond and the Sessione as ther Session book more amplie proports.” There were no Communion vessels of any kind, and this is another proof of the widespread neglect of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in episcopal times.